Note: If you are not a fan of blood, surgery, needles or bruises, this article is not for you. You have been warned!
Over the years, I have heard the stories from my friends and watched the videos on the internet, but it was finally my turn. My turn to have my four little wisdom teeth yanked from my head. However, contrary to all the information I gathered, my wisdom teeth extraction was quite different from what I could have ever imagined.
I arrived at the office an hour early, so I had a lot of time to think about the pain and puffiness post surgery. But, I had a friend who had her wisdom teeth removed the same day, so I supplied with plenty of snap-chats (to this day she does not remember sending).
Then, it was my turn. I entered the room and the surgeon pointed at my shirt and an awkward conversation commenced.
"Butler basketball," he said.
"Yeah…," I replied.
"Okay, hop in the chair."
And that I did. For the surgery, I was supposed to have the anesthetic via I.V; however, my veins had other plans. My veins do a fun thing where they collapse when they are poked. When the vein collapses, no medication can go in.
On the first attempt, the surgeon tried to go into my right arm. He tried three times to no avail. Then he decided to try my left arm. Nothing was taking. At this point, I was freaking out a little because this surgery had to be done. I was not leaving there until I had four less teeth and there was no way I would be coming back to try again.
To help my veins open and relax, the surgeon gave me laughing gas, and thus began the worst feeling in the world. I absolutely hated it. It made me feel like my body was caving in on itself, but who knew it was about to get even worse?
He gave up on trying for my arms. My hands were next. I hate seeing needles in hands. It freaks me out. So there I was, on a high, completely aware of my surroundings, but could not do or say anything to stop this man from putting a needle in my hand. AND GUESS WHAT? It didn't take! He tried my left hand, and we all can figure out what happened there.
But do not worry, there are more places for a needle to go. He flipped my hand over and wanted to try to go for my wrists. More than I hate needles in hands, I absolutely hate looking at the veins in my wrists. The thought of having a needle stuck in one of my wrists was the last thing I wanted to think out, but, of course, it did not work there either.
Clearly, using the medicine via I.V was just not going to happen. The only alternative was drinking a medicine that would make me sleepy. On the bright side, they said I would be getting the medicine in apple juice, but it only tasted like apple juice for .5 seconds before it turned into a nasty tasting liquid.
While the medicine did make me sleepy, it did not put me to sleep. So, I was awake, I was aware and my entire mouth was numb. Like I said, it was quite the surgery. I even remember the feeling of him pulling my left tooth out because he was yanking on it for some time. This was unlike any video I had watched or story I've ever heard.
Fortunately, because I was 75 percent awake after the surgery, I walked to the car by myself and could eat my ice cream right away. Not only do I have veins that collapse, I also have anemia which causes me to bruise easily. So while the numb feeling disappeared, bruises and mouth pain started to appear.
You would think I would be upset about being poked by a needle 10 times in six different places. You would think I would be upset about being more than semi-awake during surgery, but you would be wrong. I was, and still am, upset that I never saw my wisdom teeth post surgery. But hey, at least I never have to do that again!
